Updated at 9:44 a.m. ET As a young woman growing up in a poor farming community in Virginia in the 1940 and '50s, with little information about sex or contraception, sexuality was a frightening thing for Carole Cato and her female friends. "We lived in constant fear, I mean all of us," she said. "It was like a tightrope. always wondering, is this going to be the time [I get pregnant]?" Cato, 78, now lives in Columbia, S.C. She grew up in the years before the birth control pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on May 9, 1960. She said teenage girls in her community were told very little about how their bodies worked. "I was very fortunate; I did not get pregnant, but a lot of my friends did. And of course, they just got married and went into their little farmhouses," she said. "But I just felt I just had to get out." At 23, Cato married a widower who already had seven children. They decided seven was enough. By that time, Cato said, the pill allowed the couple to

Airlines and airport operators in the United Kingdom are not waiting for the British government to publicly confirm their fears. Already, the groups representing major players in the U.K.'s air travel industry are pushing back on a proposal that would require travelers to quarantine after arriving from outside the country. A spokesperson for Airlines UK — a trade body with British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair as members — says the group understands from government officials that plans for a quarantine are in the works, but that details remain scarce at the moment. "We need to see the detail of what they are proposing. Public health must of course be the priority and we will continue to be guided by Sage advice," the group said in a statement emailed to NPR, noting that support measures will be necessary to ensure "that we still have a UK aviation sector once the quarantine period is lifted." "We will be asking for assurances that this decision has been led by the science and that

Tomorrow begins a new section on this website. It’s to be called Current Listens, and that’s what it’s about. To a degree, it’s an answer to a frequent question I receive: “What have you been listening to lately?” It may prove to be an experiment, and it may prove to last long-term. It’s going to […]

Current Listens is a listening diary of sorts. It’s an answer to the frequent question: “What have you been listening to lately?” This is what’s on heavy rotation at home and … well, of late, pretty much just at home. It’s annotated, albeit lightly, because I don’t like re-posting material without providing some context. And […]

One Buddha Machine, first generation, one loop. It’s split into three strands. One strand goes straight into the mixer. That’s channel one. One strand goes into the low-fidelity looper, which spits out little instant-recall snippets into the filter, which then sends three bands of audio spectrum to the mixer. Those bands are channels two, three, […]

More than 2.5 million households across more than 60 countries tuned in for The New Heart, a powerful, timely revival presented by Amazing Facts International. 

With ten days of faith-building messages and crucial, relevant Bible answers from Pastor Doug Batchelor, president, the online series aired on Facebook, YouTube, and the AFTV online channel, and was even simultaneously translated into Spanish. Facebook users shared the programs more than 20,000 times.

Hosted by Pastor Jëan Ross, vice president for evangelism, the program was filmed at the W.O.R.D. Center with minimal on-site personnel—in keeping with safety measures during the pandemic.

Did you miss it? Watch it now!

“If there was ever a time when we needed deep, heart-searching revival, it’s now,” Pastor Doug noted. “The worldwide pandemic reminds us that we are nearing the return of Christ. Let’s not put off the spiritual preparation we will all need as we face Earth’s final events.”

And people responded to the invitation, with more than 25,000 emails and online messages pouring into the ministry. Vickie wrote, “Thank you, Pastor Doug. This series has really been an eye-opener, and I realize how important it is to read God’s Word every day. I really enjoy listening to you!”

The series also provided a time for families to come together. Viewer Sharyn noted, 

“I just want to share with you that my 91-year-old mother, Miss Jennie, and I watched all ten sermons, which aired here in our town each night at 9:00pm, and my mother would not miss even one. And, lastly, to show you how dedicated she was, she is extremely hard of hearing, so she had me place her chair right in front of the television so she could hear it to the exact volume that allowed her to hear without it being too loud or low. Thank you so much! Your gift made a wonderful impact on my elderly mother, and on me also.”

The daily sermons covered important revival themes, including, “Real Repentance,” “Sincere Confession,” “Receiving and Sharing Forgiveness,” “They Found the Book,” and “Mountain-Moving Faith.” On Sunday evening, Pastor Doug and Pastor Jëan hosted a special Bible Answers Live program on questions related to the topics featured in the series.

Free literature offers were extended during each broadcast. Viewers were encouraged to request the items via text message, ensuring they’d receive text reminders of subsequent programs. 

Amazing Facts International exists to make “God’s Message Our Mission” and spark revival among God’s end-time people. Thanks to the dedication of our ministry team and the generous financial support of our donors, The New Heart series reached millions and is continuing to impact the world, preparing this generation for Christ’s soon return!

If you missed the series or would like to watch the programs again, watch here. And be sure to share it with your friends and family!

If you’ve ever wanted advanced Bible training to become a better disciple, a better soul-winner, and a better servant of Jesus—but money, distance, or schedule has stood in your way—your wait will soon be over!

June 1 marks the relaunch of AFCOE Online, featuring Internet-based, interactive courses specially designed by the team at the renowned Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism.

And when you sign up by August 31, you’ll have the opportunity to receive special discounted pricing. 

• If you’ve already signed up for Amazing Disciples or Amazing Doctrines, you’ll receive the other course for free. (And if you sign up for both, you'll get the same 2-for-1 deal!)
  
  
• And to sweeten the deal, every course purchase comes with a digital version of the Amazing Facts eCangelism resource, which will get you off to a running start when sharing your faith in your community and beyond! (Learn more at afbookstore.com)

Unfortunately, the onsite AFCOE Comprehensive program has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. But AFCOE’s flexible online course will be available anytime and anyplace and formatted for both desktop and mobile devices. Each AFCOE class is easily accessible and in-depth, delivering world-class Bible training at an amazing price.

Each course features video instruction by Pastor Doug Batchelor, Amazing Facts International president; Pastor Jëan Ross, vice president for evangelism; and Pastor Carlos Muñoz, AFCOE director, along with other gifted and experienced instructors. You’ll even interact with fellow students and have the opportunity to get your questions answered by AFCOE staff. Plus, weekly AFCOE Live sessions with the AFCOE team will occur throughout your course!

Amazing Disciples Online Course

The foundational AFCOE Online course is Amazing Disciples, an intensive, 13-week online class presented by real experts in the field—Amazing Facts evangelists and teachers! This course is excellent for personal devotions and Bible study groups, as well as being the perfect tool for churches to use in training members for outreach. Its purpose is to provide affordable, convenient, and in-depth and empowering Bible and outreach training. See more at online.afcoe.org.

Amazing Doctrines Online Course

Amazing Doctrines is a 13-week course that will ground you in last-day doctrines so you can boldly teach others the vital truths of Scripture. This course delivers focused, trustworthy teachings about Scripture, salvation, the sanctuary, the afterlife, the Second Coming, the Sabbath, stewardship, health, and the Spirit of Prophecy. Each week-long lesson features an inspiring introduction, Scripture to memorize, an in-depth Bible study, reflection and group discussion questions, and more to help you stand firm on foundational scriptural truths and confidently teach others to do the same. See more at online.afcoe.org.

Coming Winter 2020: Amazing Sanctuary Online Course

The Amazing Sanctuary 13-week online course will be an eye-opening deep dive into the earthly and heavenly temples and their meaning for followers of Christ today—while offering an exciting picture of how God’s sanctuary message will play a vital role in these last days!

• If you’ve already signed up for both Amazing Disciples and Amazing Doctrines, you’ll receive Amazing Sanctuary at an awesome discount!

Don’t Wait!

These courses are a great way to learn more about your faith—and then be able to go out and share that faith. Right now, with so much of the world looking for spiritual answers in the face of multiple crises, studying with AFCOE Online can have a life-changing difference for you … and for all those you will reach with Bible truth!

Go to http://online.afcoe.org for more information and to sign up!

Prepare for the LPI Linux Essentials (010-160) certification exam. This course covers the five domains of this popular Linux exam, so that you can earn your certification and expand your career options as a Linux professional. Learn the fundamentals of the operating system, get introduced to numerous Linux distributions, and gain experience in the configuration, management, and usage of common open-source software applications. Instructor Jason Dion also reviews commands and scripting, process management, networking, user management, and permissions. In addition to theory, you get step-by-step demonstrations in practical labs and really learn how to use and configure key features and functionality. By the end of the course, you should start to feel like a true Linux professional.

This course was created by Jason Dion. We are pleased to offer this training in our library.

Linux is the operating system of choice for enterprises that need a stable, agile, and open-source platform, and it's only getting more popular. Qualified system administrators are in demand. If you've been anticipating a transition to Linux for your company or your career, or thinking about using Linux at home, this series presents a great opportunity to explore it—one tip at a time. Instructor covers a wide range of topics relevant to anyone interested in broadening their knowledge of Linux core concepts, including virtualization, the Linux file system, file management, file transfer, process management, multitasking, networking, and security. Plus, learn about compatible hardware and the Linux desktop experience. Tune in each week to get a new tip, and keep learning Linux all year long.

Release tension and relieve muscle fatigue anytime during the workday using these self-massage and acupressure techniques from the instructors at Desk Yogi. When you need a break, these simple exercises allow you to relieve tension in your muscles and joints—all without leaving your office chair. Learn techniques for relieving soreness in your hands and wrists caused by using a computer all day. Get step-by-step instructions on how to find the right pressure points in your arms to give yourself a relaxing massage. Plus, discover how to relieve tension and headaches by giving yourself a gentle facial massage, soothe sore feet while seated at your desk, and use a tennis ball to enhance the effectiveness of your stretches.

Note: This course was created and produced by Desk Yogi.

Would you like to work faster and more efficiently with SOLIDWORKS? There is a ton of knowledge in the SOLIDWORKS community that you'll never learn from the documentation. Gabriel Corbett has spent years studying the program, attending conferences, teaching classes, and talking to fellow experts. In this weekly series, he shares his insights with you. These tips and tricks cover many different facets of the program, from renaming files, customizing properties, to sketching and constructing difficult geometry, replacing parts, and drawing links. Each weekly episode is just 2–10 minutes—ensuring maximum returns in a minimum amount of time. Tune in every Wednesday for new SOLIDWORKS tips.

Note: Because this is an ongoing series, viewers will not receive a certificate of completion.

Implementing Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies v1.0 (ENCOR 350-401) is a 120-minute professional-level exam associated with the CCNP and CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure certifications. The exam tests a candidate's knowledge of implementing core enterprise network technologies. This course helps candidates to prepare for the first three domains of this exam: Architecture, Virtualization, and Infrastructure. Instructors Kevin Wallace and Charles Judd show how to design enterprise architecture, including planning for all the necessary services and capacity. They also cover the various types of virtualization, from virtual machines and switches to entire virtual networks, and review the infrastructure technologies you typically see in enterprise networks, such as MSTP and RSTP, IPv4 and IPV6 routing, WLANs, Dynamic NAT, and more.

This course was created by Kevin Wallace Training. We are pleased to offer this training in our library.

Take a deep dive into usability testing techniques and methodologies for user experience (UX) design projects with research expert Amanda Stockwell. In this course, you can learn which types of tests—remote or in person, moderated or unmoderated, task-based or unstructured—to use for specific types of projects and users. Amanda also shares tips on conducting usability tests, from recruiting participants to moderating sessions. Plus, learn how to analyze and present the results of your testing to the rest of your organization.

Groundhog Day, Back to the Future, The Matrix, and more.

Ripped from the headlines, and inspired by this FPP, let's watch Contagion together on our own. It's widely available from US streaming services for under 5 US bucks. Youtube, Amazon (*not* on Prime Video), Google Play, Apple itunes, possibly available if you have Cinemax. We do not have the ability to share a stream.

. Fanfare
. IMDB
. Rotten Tomatoes
. Fact-Checking 'Contagion', npr

Thursday, March 19

Make popcorn, grab a beverage. Launch MeFi Chat, choose the LiveWatch tab (upper right), say hello. Please be ready to launch the film at 9.15 EDT; too early for the West Coast, too late for the East Coast, but whatevs. It will not be synchronized; we are resourceful. If you can't afford the movie, maybe I can screen share with 1 person? I'll watch my MeFi Mail, I have a gmail account in this name, also this page in case of issues. This is not a thing we've done before, but I've never had to avoid Covid-19 before, either. The unexpected is the new norm. This is only nominally hosted by MeFi, so if you want to complain, memail me, not the mods.

Thu March 19 at 6:00 PM,

Hey, guys. Struck me this morning that it's a good idea for MeFites in town to know where everyone is, what potential needs folks have, and how to help if things get much worse. I'm setting this one as a proposed meetup in Austin in the hopes of getting emails out to folks in town, but right now I have no intention of meeting in-person--just organizing folks in town so that we can set up a network we can use to help one another and familiarize ourselves with anyone who's local on the site. Anyway, here's a space. Thoughts?

Hi everyone, Who wants to get ironic and have an online Calgary IRL meetup sometime? Location: the internet! Might be good for sanity, who knows. Hope everyone is staying both safe and sane!

Sat March 28 at 7:30 PM,

Using the mighty combination of Discord and Steam, I will host a trial session where mefites can join my discord server, view my screen, and play Drawful 2.

Time: 8pm EST this Sunday, March 29. What: Drawful 2 -- https://store.steampowered.com/app/442070/Drawful_2/ How: Discord -- https://discordapp.com/ Where: The voice channel on my discord server -- https://discord.gg/MEcVs5S What you'll need: at the very least, a computer with a microphone, speakers, and connection to the Internet. Though if you wanted to connect without using audio, I think that should be fine too. A Discord account. Your very best drawing on a phone screen chops. A note on Drawful 2 -- it's designed for 3-8 players at a go, so depending on how many mefites show up, we may have to do some sharing. I'll be available on Mefi chat and on Discord from 7:30pm EST until the start time to assist with any technical or user set up issues. Discord can be confusing sometimes.

Sun March 29 at 8:00 PM,

Hey all. So, is anyone else hungering enough for social interaction that a Brady Bunch-esque layout of little video windows of friends seems like a really good idea? Any MIJ (Mefites in Japan)* up for a meetup over Zoom?**

I've only recently started using Zoom, trying to get ready for if I'll need it for the upcoming (in theory) school year, and Gotanda and I were talking about maybe doing a zoom-based nomikai/meetup. Update: Tonight (April 12th), 8:00 pm Tokyo time, over zoom. I'll memail links to people, so if you didn't get a link, send me a memail and I'll send you an invite. *Though, since this would be online, we could open this up to just about anyone, right? **I just went with zoom because it's literally all I know at this point, though I have heard about all the fun security worries and invasiveness it brings along to the party. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm totally open.

Sun April 12 at 7:00 PM,

Hey y'all - let's have a virtual meetup! The theme is "Quarantine Hobbies" - let's share our tales of dead sourdough starter, failed crops, ugly sweaters, bad television!

My preference is to do this on a weekend closer to the evening. I don't have one of those fancy upgraded Zoom accounts that lets you go more than 40 minutes, so please share if you do. How does April 18th at 4:00 PM (Eastern) sound?

Sat April 18 at 4:00 PM,

MeFites in Japan, unite! (While, of course, maintaining appropriate distance) This upcoming Sunday (April 19) at 19:00 we'll be meeting on Zoom to chat and conviviate (that's probably not a real word). You're probably at home, you're probably going stir crazy, you probably want to meet new people or see familiar faces again, so you should join us! If you want to attend, say the word and we'll send you the Zoom meeting invite link via MeMail.

Sun April 19 at 8:00 PM,

I'd like to use this thread to figure out if we should, can, or will play a game inside animal crossing. I've heard it's been done but I don't know any details. Would it be funny to play a version of d&d or a similar role playing game? I think maybe? Or keep it simple? Should we try it?

Sun April 19 at 8:00 PM,

I'd like to hang out with other MeFites online next weekend (April 24 or 25), from ca. 7pm PST. Not sure how (platform), so this and precise details would be yet TBD. 19+, your choice of food/drink (surprise us), your best hangout/bar attire, some warm (flattering) lights and funky decor, and some tunes (streamed with e.g. Watch2Gether or better).

I've never ever been to a meetup yet. I fact, I don't believe I've met a single MeFite in person yet. I haven't even managed to convince a real life person to join so please let's do this! Any interest? MeMail me or post here :)

Fri April 24 at 7:00 PM,

Hey all. I don't know if you noticed this, but we're in uncharted territory here. If you look at the sidebar, it has a list of "most active cities" for meetups, and we're essentially in second place (a couple cities have had four, sure), and if we have another meetup this Sunday, boom, we'll be one of the most active cities/amorphous regional groupings in all of Metafilterland! Can't you just feel those competitive juices flowing, urging you on to meet once again on Sunday night at 8 for some light chat, witty observations, and hilarious jokes? Edit: changed time to 8, longer explanation in the comments

I can set up the zoom thing again, and will mail invites out to anyone in the going or maybe fields. We managed about seven people last week, which was nice. I figure if we're going to do these things regularly, it might be nice to have a theme of some sort, something to get things going, and honestly, all I've got is jokes. Like, terrible jokes. Not offensive, just really, painfully unfunny jokes, the best kind! Please think up a terrible joke to share when we meet on Sunday, and from there, we can just sort of go wherever it takes us. I'd like to extend the invitation to Mefites around the world, as well, just on the off chance they're awake and up for meeting at 8pm Japan time on Sunday, but I'm not really sure how. I imagine posting in MeTa would get us more people than we could probably handle, and there's also a part of me that thinks 6-8 people is just about the upper limit for Zoom anyway. What do you folks think?

Sun April 26 at 8:00 PM,

People are getting out and biking more these days. Are you one of them, or do you want to be? I've been biking the streets of Portland for 7 years. I can look at Portland's bike maps with you and help you figure out the BEST route that will get you where you want to go.

time/date flexible

Mon May 11 at 8:00 PM,

Pollinators are in decline, but the right selection of plants can draw bees, butterflies, and humming birds to your yard in search of food and shelter

There will be many people in Heaven with different views on how to live but what we cannot get wrong is what is required to get saved. What does God want from us?

In unschöner Regelmäßigkeit beklagt Werder Bremen Wettbewerbsnachteile. Auch beim Re-Start der Bundesliga melden sich Bedenkenträger wie Baumann und Bode zu Wort. Dabei könnte der Klub durchaus stolz auf das Erreichte sein.

Die Bundesligen können wieder spielen. Doch die Dritte Liga sowie der gesamte Amateurfußball kämpfen mit einer Vielzahl von Problemen. Die unterschiedlichen Bestimmungen in den Bundesländern machen das Chaos perfekt.

Die Bundesliga startet nach fast zweimonatiger Pause am 16. Mai mit dem 26. Spieltag. Wir blicken auf die verbleibenden Spiele und schauen, welche Partien besonders brisant werden.

DFL-Geschäftsführer Christian Seifert bedankt sich bei allen Beteiligten, dass die Bundesliga am 16. Mai starten kann. Zudem zeigen andere Ligen Interesse am erstellten Konzept.

Die Bundesliga läuft wieder an, zur Freude der Vereine und zum Unmut vieler Deutscher. Laut einer neuen Umfrage spricht sich mehr als die Hälfte der Deutschen gegen den Neustart aus.

Heung-min Son nutzte die Corona-Zwangspause der Premier League, um sich in Südkorea militärisch ausbilden zu lassen. Tottenham Hotspurs Stürmer tat sich in den Gefechtsübungen hervor. Das machte Eindruck bei seinen Vorgesetzten.

Farid El Melali onanierte vor dem Fenster einer Nachbarin. Kurz zuvor hatte er seinen Vertrag beim französischen Erstligisten SCO Angers unterschrieben. Seine Entschuldigung ist wenig überzeugend. Es war nicht seine erste Tat.

Verband, Spieler und Fans sorgen sich um die Austragung der Darts-WM 2021. Für Dimitri Van den Bergh wären Geisterspiele keine Alternative. Zudem kündigte der seit sieben Wochen bei Peter Wright lebende Belgier an, beim Weltmeister wohnen zu bleiben.

The nearly four-minute campaign ad begins with scenery of a small town sheriff's race in the South. A camouflage fishing boat winds down a picturesque waterway. The talk from a front porch rocking chair is of hunting, Christian values and guns. Then, more than halfway through the video, Craig Stivender, a Republican candidate for sheriff in Colleton County, S.C., reveals a picture of himself in blackface with his arm around an African American woman. "To those of you who may be upset, I understand your disappointment," he says in the video. Stivender, who is currently a fireman in the rural community just west of Charleston, goes on to explain the photograph was taken at a Halloween party for law enforcement nearly a decade ago. He says he released the picture to begin his campaign with full transparency. The election is in November 2020. "Basically if I'm going to run on honesty and integrity, I'm willing to put out things bad about me," he said in a telephone interview. Stivender

Updated at 8:11 p.m. ET The interim chief of the Fort Worth Police Department apologized on Tuesday to the family of Atatiana Jefferson in the aftermath of her fatal shooting by a police officer while she was in her home. "This incident has eroded the trust that we have built with our community and we must now work even harder to ensure that trust is restored," said Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus. Aaron Dean, the officer who shot Jefferson, resigned from the department and has been charged with murder . Kraus said that there is "absolutely no excuse" for the incident and that Dean will be held responsible for his actions. He asked the Fort Worth community to not allow the incident to reflect poorly on the entire police department. "The officers are hurting," he said. "They try hard every day to try to make this city better." Jefferson's family is calling for an independent investigation so that the Fort Worth Police Department is not investigating itself. The mayor told NPR she

Water and wildlife in the nation's public forests are slowly being poisoned by insecticides and other chemicals used in illegal marijuana operations, say forest police and researchers. They warn that the potential environmental damage could last generations. Many of the grows are the work of highly organized drug cartels that take advantage of the forests' thick canopy to help hide their operations. Some sites go undetected for years. "The true crime here is the fact that they're killing off basically America's public lands, killing off the wildlife, killing off our water," says Kevin Mayer, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement assistant special agent in charge. "This is stuff that, you know, it's not gonna repair itself." Now, an unlikely coalition in California — including environmentalists, law enforcement agents, politicians, wildlife ecologists and representatives of the legal cannabis industry — have joined forces to try to reduce these illegal operations and the environmental

St. Louis' first black prosecutor, Kim Gardner, has sued the city, its police union and five others for what she calls a racist effort to block her reform agenda. "Gardner was elected in 2016 on a promise to redress the scourge of historical inequality and rebuild trust in the criminal justice system among communities of color," reads the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court. "Unfortunately, entrenched interests in St. Louis ... have mobilized to thwart these efforts through a broad campaign of collusive conduct" to protect the status quo and remove Gardner from office. Jacob Long, a spokesman for Mayor Lyda Krewson, said the city "vehemently denied what it considers to be meritless allegations levied against it" and expected to be "fully vindicated." Jeff Roorda, a police union official named in the suit, called it "the last act of a desperate woman." The suit has its roots in the 2018 prosecution of then-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens. Gardner hired an outside investigator to look into

U.S. authorities have seized the domain name of a website that allegedly sold access to billions of usernames, email addresses, passwords and other sensitive information stolen in data breaches. Now, visitors to the not-so-subtle website – weleakinfo.com — are greeted with a homepage that reads, "This Domain Has Been Seized." The Justice Department and the FBI took control of the site as part of a "comprehensive law enforcement action" involving authorities in Germany, Northern Ireland, the U.K. and the Netherlands. Two men in Europe have been arrested so far in connection with the site. WeLeakInfo billed itself as a "search engine" that subscribers could use to pore over data illegally obtained from more than 10,000 data breaches, U.S. authorities said in a statement . In all, the Justice Department said the site was offering access to more than 12 billion indexed records. "The website sold subscriptions so that any user could access the results of these data breaches, with

Uber is testing a new feature in California that allows some drivers to set their own rates. The move comes in response to a new state law that requires more companies to convert their contract workers to employees, which means offering them benefits and added protections. Companies including Uber, Lyft and delivery app Postmates argue that doing so would upend their business model and eliminate the flexibility inherent to the gig economy. Uber is currently testing a feature at airports in Sacramento, Palm Springs and Santa Barbara that allows drivers to increase fares in 10% increments, up to five times the base rate. Riders are then matched with the lowest fare. In the coming days, Uber says it will also allow drivers to decrease their prices below the base rate and opt out of surge pricing. It's part of an effort to give drivers more control — and bolster the argument that they're truly contractors rather than employees. The company acknowledges the experiment could have unexpected

Emily Ligawiec has to sign in visitors to the recovery program she attends in a grand Victorian house in Holyoke, Mass. She can't bring people to her room. She only recently earned phone and car privileges. "We get 24, 48, 72-hour passes every weekend," she said. But Ligawiec doesn't mind the restrictions. The 29-year-old is grateful she's alive to follow them, after a decade of addiction — first to prescription painkillers, then pills she bought in the street, then heroin. "I had gone down a pretty dark path," she said. What finally turned her around was a 911 call last winter. She had gotten high on heroin and stolen her mother's car. When she returned it a few hours later, Officer John Cacela of Ware, Mass., was waiting in the driveway. In the past, Cacela might have immediately read Ligawiec her rights, "because for the longest time, the whole idea was — arrest, arrest," he said. Instead, he tapped on the car window and assured her she wasn't in trouble. "I closed the window on him

Indian police have the unenviable task of enforcing the world's biggest coronavirus lockdown . But last weekend, they handed down a punishment more common in a middle-school classroom than a police station. Ten foreign tourists caught flouting India's coronavirus restrictions Saturday were made to write the phrase "I did not follow the rules of lockdown. I am very sorry" 500 times and submit the paper to police. The incident happened at a sandy beach along the Ganges River near Rishikesh, a tourist hub in northern India famous for yoga retreats and hippie hangouts. It's where the Beatles made a spiritual pilgrimage in 1968. An officer who answered the phone Monday at the Muni Ki Reti police station near Rishikesh confirmed details to NPR, but declined an interview. The tourists were reportedly from Israel, Mexico, Australia and Austria, and were walking along the river when Indian police intervened. Under India's lockdown, all nonessential outings are banned. Video shared online by

For police, the new coronavirus poses a dilemma: How do you apprehend a suspect in the era of social distancing? In India, they've come up with a way to lengthen the long arms of the law: giant tongs. In what looks more like a scene from a cops-and-robbers cartoon, this week police in the northern city of Chandigarh tweeted a video of an officer demonstrating how to use a 6-foot pole with a two-pronged claw at the end to detain a suspect. The officer, wearing a surgical mask, clamps the device around a man's waist and forces him into a pickup truck. "We call it a 'social distancing clamp' or a 'lockdown-breaker catcher,' " head constable Gurdeep Singh told NPR by phone from Chandigarh Police headquarters. "This is especially used in instances where we suspect that someone has the coronavirus and they are not cooperating with us." Chandigarh, the joint capital of the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab, has been declared a containment zone , with a high concentration of COVID-19 cases.

Christine Lagarde hat vor leeren Rängen neue Hilfen in der Corona-Krise vorgestellt. Und die sind umfangreich: Banken werden künftig fürstlich dafür bezahlt, dass sie Kredite ausgeben. An den Finanzmärkten reagieren die Investoren dennoch wenig begeistert.

Zu Beginn des Shutdowns hielten Vermieter von Büroflächen das Homeoffice für ein vorübergehendes Phänomen. Doch jetzt mehren sich Hinweise, dass viele Mitarbeiter auch künftig von Hause arbeiten. Dabei spräche ein Grund ganz klar für ihre Rückkehr.

Auch Immobilienaktien sind im Zuge des Crashs abgestürzt. Analysen früherer Pandemien zeigen jedoch, dass sich die Branche immer sehr schnell erholt hat. Deshalb stehen die Kurschancen für einige Papiere jetzt besonders gut.

Seit zwei Monaten sind die Mieten in Berlin eingefroren. Während sich Mieter über die staatlich festgelegten Preise freuen, sind Vermieter sauer und fahren Investitionen zurück. Ob das Gesetz überhaupt gelten darf, wird nun in Karlsruhe geprüft.

I've been working on a musical collaboration with a fellow musician friend of mine during these crazy coronavirus times, in hopes of generating something fun and creative while we have all this spare time not working or gigging. Here's the first song from that collaboration. It's timely that we've finally finished the song this past weekend, because yesterday I received some dreadful news: a dear friend of mine from college passed away due to complications related to COVID-19. She was a brilliant writer, and funny as hell, and the world is undoubtedly worse off without her in it. She and I met in a creative writing class, where she and I were were two the only four students of color in that class and had to endure micro-aggression upon micro-aggression (and sometimes outright aggression) from the white students whenever it came time for our writing to be workshopped. We always made sure to have each others' backs in that classroom, and even though we've all scattered across the country since college I've always felt like we formed a lifelong bond having gone through that experience with each other. I originally set out to record this cover because over the past five years I have struggled mightily when it comes to loving my own self, and as a result have also done a very poor job of loving those I do love the most in the world. The Indigo Girls meant this song to be a reflection on the idea of literal reincarnation from the lives of those long gone, but to me, especially after having gone through a lot of hard, intensive work over the past few months to better myself so I can be better to myself and my loved ones, this song is about the possibility of a personal reincarnation, of being reborn from a past version of myself that only knew hurt and how to hurt instead of how to love honestly and truthfully. As one of us four in that class put it last night on Facebook, we all loved each other hard in that class because we had to, and so I want to dedicate this song to Kimmy's memory, because I never want to forget the importance and the sustaining power of taking care of ourselves by taking care of each other. I'll miss you a lot, girl. Thank you for always holding me up (and always cracking me up).

A standard fiddle tune on mandolin with backing guitar.